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This was such a richly rewarding London Film Festival that DVDfever split its retrospective coverage in three. In the first two, longer instalments we looked in depth at the movies that you should rush to – or do your best to avoid – and why. And we also gave you the lowdown on all the upcoming treats from the emerging and more established film nations.
In London Film Festival 2011 Part 3: The DVDfever Awards, however, we’re handing out our festival awards. Admittedly, they are virtual prizes, but they are mulled over and considered with just as much attention and agonising as any of your Globes, Oscars or BAFTAs. So let’s unroll that virtual red carpet, get our favourite virtual designers to kit us out with virtual posh frocks, get some virtual champagne and also toast the achievements of outgoing festival director, Sandra Hebron, and her always excellent team.
So (cue: virtual fanfare) here they are, the 2011 DVDfever Awards for the 55th London Film Festival.
BEST FILM, FULL STOP:
SHAME (right), directed by our own Steve McQueen
BEST COMEDY:
KING CURLING, from Norway, directed by Ole Endresen
Runners-up: MITSUKO DELIVERS (Japan, Yuya Ishii), NATURAL SELECTION (US, Robbie Pickering), THE DAY HE ARRIVES (Korea, Hong Sangsoo), WE HAVE A POPE (Italy, Nanni Moretti), 50/50 (US, Jonathan Levine), TERRI (US, Azazel Jacobs)
BEST THRILLER:
HEADHUNTERS, also from Norway, directed by Morten Tyldum, from Jo Nesbo’s novel
Runners-up: IDES OF MARCH (US, George Clooney), MISS BALA (Mexico, Gerardo Naranjo), WILD BILL (UK, Dexter Fletcher)
BEST ROMANTIC COMEDY:
MEDIANERAS, from Argentina, directed by Gustavo Taretto
Runner-up: CHICKEN WITH PLUMS (France/Germany/Belgium, Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud)
BEST DRAMA: THE KID WITH A BIKE, from Belgium and the Dardennes brothers
and
STOPPED ON TRACK, from Germany, directed by Andreas Dresen.
Runner-up: THE FATHERLESS (Austria, Maria Kreutzer)
BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
DREAMS OF A LIFE (right), from our own Carol Morley
Runners-up: DARWIN (Switzerland/US, Nick Brandestini), WOMEN WITH COWS (Sweden, Peter Gerdehag), BITTER TASTE OF FREEDOM (Russia/US/Sweden, Marina Goldovskaya)
MOST AMBITIOUS ACHIEVEMENT:
DREILEBEN 1, 2 & 3 from Germany, with each of this trilogy of self-contained, but interlinked thrillers directed by a different person, respectively Christian Petzold, Dominik Graf, and Christoph Hochhausler.
BEST ADAPTATION FROM PLAY OR BOOK:
CARNAGE, directed by Roman Polanski, from Yasmina Reza’s play God of Carnage.
Runners-up: CORIOLANUS (UK, Ralph Fiennes), HEADHUNTERS, CHICKEN WITH PLUMS, IDES OF MARCH.
RISING TALENT (MOST PROMISING DIRECTORS):
DEXTER FLETCHER for Wild Bill (right)
GUSTAVO TARETTO for Medianeras
RALPH FIENNES for Coriolanus
ALICE ROHRWACHER for Corpo Celeste
JOHN SHANK for Last Winter
MARIA KREUTZER for The Fatherless
CAROL MORLEY for Dreams of a Life
AZAZEL JACOBS for Terri
LISA ASCHAN for She Monkeys
ANDREA SEGRE for Li and the Poet
ZUZANA LIOVA for The House
ROBBIE PICKERING for Natural Selection
NICK MURPHY for The Awakening
SANJEEWA PUSHPAKUMARA for Flying Fish
MILAGROS MUMENTHALER for Back to Stay
RISING TALENT (STARS):
JACOB WYSOCKI in Terri
RACHAEL HARRIS in Natural Selection (right)
ISABELLA LINDQUIST in She Monkeys
THOMAS DORET in The Kid With A Bike
WILL POULTER in Wild Bill
ZAWE ASHTON in Dreams Of A Life
YLE VIANELLO in Corpo Celeste
ZACHARIE CHASSERIAUD in The Giants
STEPHANIE SIGMAN in Miss Bala
CAREER BESTS:
JEAN-PIERRE DAROUSSIN in Early One Morning and The Snows Of Kilimanjaro
MICHAEL FASSBENDER in Shame
SEAN PENN in This Must Be The Place (right)
DARDENNES BROTHERS for The Kid With A Bike
CARLOS ALVAREZ-NOVOA in The Waves
THEODOR JULIUSSON in Volcano
CORINNE MASIERO in Louise Wimmer
LINDA CARDELLINI in Return
MILAN PESCHEL in Stopped On Track
ANDREAS DRESEN for Stopped On Track
CECILE DE FRANCE in The Kid With A Bike
AND FINALLY… THE 12 MUST-SEES:
SHAME
THE KID WITH A BIKE (right)
MEDIANERAS
HEADHUNTERS
KING CURLING
NATURAL SELECTION
CARNAGE
DREILEBEN
MITSUKO DELIVERS
DREAMS OF A LIFE
WE HAVE A POPE
MISS BALA
© Helen M Jerome 2011